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W 0") o o "' 2, High Quality Substitute Water ,": ~ Five cases were considered whereby higher quality waters were sub- stituted for We11ton-Mohawk return flows. In all schemes, Colorado River waters were the substitute supply, either directly or as available, due to water saving measures, including canal lining and exchange agreements, In most of these cases, the permanence of the solution became question- able as projections of future development were made and compared with allocati ons, 3. Changes in Operation of the We11ton-Mohawk District These two cases considered partial and complete shutdown of the" We1lton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District. This would remove the impact of the drainage flows on the river salinity, but had serious finanCial, environmental, and human impacts. Appendix A deals with total shutdown of the District in more detail, 4. Other Measures Other cases considered included water quality controls above Imperial Dam, mor~ efficient irrigation practices (see Section III), flow augmen- tation, and even limiting future development in the Colorado River Basin. As may be seen in the final plan description, some of these were included, Howev~r, for the most part, legal and institutional problems posed serious doubt as to the practicality or permanence of many of these schemes, C. Recommended So 1 ut i on It was recommended that a negotiated rather than an adjudicated solution be sought to the salinity problem with Mexico. The differences among legal land technical experts are so deep on a variety of questions relating to the problem that resorting to adjudication would delay a solution for a prolonged period. It was concluded from the results of the systematic and detailed study which 'the Task Force gave to the salinity problem that a permanent solution to the problem could not be achieved immediately or without significant costs in water or money or both. In a potentially overallocated basin, solutions requiring significant expenditures of water were considered less favorable and the Basin states advised that they would not accept any solution involving permanent loss of Colorado River Basin water resources. It was, and is, recognized that permanent bypass of We11ton-Mohawk (and some other) returns, made up by substitution of additional mainstream waters, would allow resolution of the salinity problem. 3/ However, this substitution would take slightly over 200,000 acre-feet per year from extant supplies. The task force concluded that resolution of the Mexican salini;ty problem was a national obligation, to be borne by the nation as a whole rather than by any specific segment. Therefore, the solution should involve the expenditure of funds rather than water, limiting the 1/ Exhibit 2. 5 J . . - ~ -.'-: ,~~ - f..-di{"' ,; -~ i ,';' ;}i ....'.... "-,-,-,' , ., ;0